Couldn’t get along. Radio run had cooled. The 1980s had become the 1990s, and the ’90s were all wrong. The band called Restless Heart was now more restless, and no longer had the heart or the stomach to endure.

“I started another band (Buffalo Club), got a deal, got a hit and then nobody in that band could get along well enough to hang together,” says multi-instrumentalist John Dittrich. “Greg (Jennings) toured with Vince Gill, Larry (Stewart) went solo, Dave (Innis) started playing with Richard Marx, and Paul (Gregg) went into the carwash business.”

Done, then. Toast. Stewart departed in the early ’90s, and the rest of the group disbanded in 1994.

But then the ’90s became the new century, and the passing of time brought perspective. In 2002, what once seemed irrevocably broken now seemed just once-bruised. And the original (well, almost original, given that Verlon Thompson was lead singer for a brief time before Stewart’s 1993 arrival) lineup has been back together now for 11 years. In 2013, Restless Heart is celebrating its 30th anniversary.

“We all came to the conclusion that we’d had a really good thing,” Jennings said.

It was a good thing: Between 1986 and 1988, Restless Heart notched six consecutive chart-topping country hits, giving the band Alabama a run for its money. Restless Heart’s hits delivered pop sheen, instrumental precision and a distinctive vocal blend. To this day, the band members laugh in harmony.

The group was a radio powerhouse, offering up No. 1 hits including “A Tender Lie,” “I’ll Still Be Loving You,” “That Rock Won’t Roll,” “The Bluest Eyes in Texas,” “Why Does It Have To Be (Wrong or Right)” and “Wheels.” Critical evaluation was not always as positive, something Stewart attributes to the band being put together by producer Tim DuBois rather than slugging it out for years together in clubs.

“Critics didn’t like that we didn’t do a bunch of shows and ‘pay the dues.’ They were saying this band wouldn’t last two years,” Stewart says, 30 years later.

As was the case with a later DuBois construct — a little duo called Brooks & Dunn — the members of Restless Heart had to learn to become a band. And they had to learn on the job, while touring, recording and struggling with the time constraints and creative stresses brought on by fame’s first blush.

A cover of R&B song “When Somebody Loves You” became a sticking point: Management, RCA label personnel and others were smitten by the song, but band members weren’t so fond of it, and it polarized radio programmers.

“There was a lot that went into the equation,” Stewart says, of the events leading up to the band’s initial crack-up. “We all have to look in the mirror a little bit, realize that we lost our way a little bit, and lost a little focus. All bands go through that. But that period gave us a chance to grow up and figure it out, to come together a little bit and get to a point where we could appreciate where we’d been.”

‘Like a family reunion’

Restless Heart plays regularly on the “Grand Ole Opry” and tours on a new and improved circuit where tour buses have satellite televisions, musicians have cellphones and wireless Internet, and the howling ’80s have been replaced by a routine that involves bedtime around 11 p.m.

These days, Restless Heart shows trade on nostalgia: The group’s ability to reproduce the harmony blends and instrumental arrangements is impressive and evocative. And a new RCA/Legacy collection called “Playlist: The Very Best of Restless Heart” is putting the old hits back in circulation.

But audience members often ask when new music is coming, and the answer is, “Before too long, we think.”

It’s hard to get five strong-willed, veteran musicians to agree on song selections and recording approaches. But they’re trying, and they’re trying together. A holiday album is in the works, as is a guest-packed album of cover songs. And, for now, band members are pleased to play the hits.

“It’s fun to look out and see people dancing together to ‘I’ll Still Be Loving You,’ and singing along,” Innis says. “Music brings back distinct memories of a place you were when you first heard a song, and it’s a cool feeling to know that our music has touched people, helped them through a tough time or helped them celebrate a happy time in their life. Providing that environment for people is not just playing a gig, it’s like a family reunion.”